I had 4 barrels of grain to load into the trailer in the quietness of predawn downtown Spokane. I really very much prefer the city in this state, QUIET. I mean the train rumbling along was loud but there was not the cacophony of society.

As I headed back home the glimmer of the sunrise was just showing on the horizon behind the clouds.

I watched the last stage of the Volta Catalunya as I wrote my post which had some AMAZING trails and roads they rode along.

I got the trailer emptied of grain and the trailer unhooked so @stryeyz and the boys could go pickup our new cat. While they were gone I got my ride in on the trainer as it was trying to rain. I am SUPER happy to have the cadence and speed sensors on it so I now get MOR METRICS.

It is really helpful having the cadence now so I can better meter my sessions. I made sure to keep it above 60 and below 100 as I did 30 minutes.

The cat made herself at home rather quickly and is a quite affectionate cat. She was someone's pet that got dumped by a property to the north... One of many that end up getting dumped there that are friendly and not feral.

I headed to the hospital and was headed for Art's room in the ICU a little after noon.

I hope to get this out as a news story in the next weeks, I will talk with Jess about it first.
"MAN SURVIVES 70 FOOT FALL FROM CLIFF"

We had drilled an anchor some years ago atop the smaller cliff along the Columbia River and Art was showing Liam climbing skills Friday afternoon. At the anchor Art untied a clove hitch he had tied to the anchor for him to rappel off. Liam asked what the knot was so Art untied it and showed him the knot, then dropped the rope. He had himself setup for rappel but now without the clove hitch holding the line to the anchor it just went through the carabiners and to the ground. Thinking he was still anchored he unclipped his daisy from the anchor and began to back down the wall to weight the line. The line never caught as it was no longer fixed and he went backwards off the cliff.

He went into a free fall from 70 feet up, backwards. Mid air and mid fall he managed to instinctually spin to his right. His wife and daughter watched as he landed atop a rounded boulder a couple feet across both of which WHICH SAVED HIS LIFE. By rotating the 110 degrees it put his rib cage down which impacted the rock first and the air space compressed, ribs broke, but it was JUST ENOUGH deceleration so his head did not hit the ground with full force. Plus the body naturally bends forwards where if he would have hit on his back it would have snapped him in half. As it is he shattered a lumbar vertebrae which is now fused and rebuilt with no seeming damage to the spinal cord. He is having bad pains from the nerves which stem from the back injury area.

1 shattered vertebrae
5 broken ribs
1 fractured pelvic floor
1 fractured ankle
1 punctured lung

Cognitively he is seeming to be there, able to joke, remember, and already is itching to get back on the rock. 6-8 weeks he will have before the spine is healed enough and it looks like he could be out of the hospital this week and at home doing physical therapy. They will know this morning more when the rest of the doctors are in. He was moved out of the ICU last night and the monitors were removed as his vitals are that good.

I hung out until 4pm then headed for home, VERY much relieved to see him alive and in a truly amazing state given the severity of the fall.

Our new cat. R is in love and the cat is claiming him quickly. We have her in the pantry for now but will be introducing her to the rest of the house in the next days. No clue on a name yet.

Today I have another job from Thumbtack in the afternoon, I will get the boys to school in a bit, get a bike ride in this morning, hang with the cat, keep up on how Art is doing and possibly go see him after my job as I will be a couple miles from the hospital, then R might go to wrestling practice though he doesn't have to as he is not going to the last tournament.

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